Quotes from David Robinson

In some ways, you have to fail some. You have to figure that stuff out, because if I didn't have an Hakeem Olajuwon, would I have been able to achieve the heights that I did achieve? I don't think so. He pushed me, and I pushed him.

When you get on the floor, you've got to think you're the best player. Everybody does that.

I think everything works in cycles. I was fortunate enough to come along in the golden age for big men. There were guys like Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.

Sometimes I feel like hitting somebody. You look at the refs and they say, 'We'll take care of it.' I think, 'Yeah? You won't take care of it the way I'd like to take care of it.'

I was probably a naive youth, but I saw that I could make things happen.

My dad was enlisted in the Navy; my mother was a nurse. It just was never a thought process. It was just go to the best school you can go to, do the best you possibly can do, and be the best person you can possibly be, and I think our faith had a lot to do with that.

What's great is what Coach Popovich and R.C. Buford and the whole family have done a great job in continuing to build the franchise and still be very, very competitive.

Most proud moment: Winning the championship in 2003 with a great team, retiring, and going out in the perfect way. Had a great journey and knowing it was the right time to focus more on family and community activities.

Coming in, I had no idea basketball would be a career for me, but I grew 7 inches in college and was fortunate to have a great career in the NBA. The experience taught me about service, what our great country was built on, the sacrifices people have made, how to work together and trust the people around you to accomplish a great goal.

If you forget your history, you forget who you are.

This is sports. In sports, you win and you lose. That's the nature of sports. You can't get away from that part of it. And if you get too hung up on the losing part, then you miss the boat. The competition part, a game like that, is why you play sports. That is as good as it gets.

Your grandfather is and will always be your hero, your inspiration. He fought in World War II, came home to Little Rock, Arkansas, and worked for 50 years as a mailman in the segregated south. Not once did he get a job promotion in five decades. But he kept working all the same.

Largely in the beginning, I did a lot of extra work because I was lighter than all the other guys. I was at a massive disadvantage, so I had to put on weight. I started with eating. I had to really focus on my diet.

When you get that signing bonus, don't start thinking about all the things you can do with $1 million.

It's tragic that there are so few farmer-direct coffees in Africa, but it's very tough.

You need to learn a practical lesson. Grit alone is not going to save you from sinking.

You are overboard in deep open water without a PFD (personal floatation device), or at least that's what your instructor is yelling. Sink or swim, plebe.

Yes, I played in '92 with the original Dream Team, and then again in '96 with what they labeled 'Dream Team III.'

Obviously, I'm not working out the way I was when I was playing. I do yoga. I swim a lot. I'm drinking a lot of good, healthy mixes. I got myself a Vitamix.

All this stuff doesn't happen to you for your own sake. It doesn't happen to you so you can fill your shelves with trophies or line your pockets with cash; it happens so you can have a positive influence and encourage other people.

The individual stats, that stuff is fun, but it doesn't last. Somebody else is gonna come along and break your records. But the memories that you take are forever.

You give a team a month - three weeks - to get together, and you're going to make mistakes. You're just not going to be as sharp.

Michael, to me, he was an assassin. He was one of those guys that prepared himself extremely well and was relentless in his attacking. And there are a few guys who have that mentality. I think Kobe Bryant has that type of mentality, and LeBron has that type of mentality.

Shaq was a great physical specimen. I mean, 7 foot, 350 pounds. There wasn't anybody like him.